Wallpaper machine



June 12, 1951 W.C.RENNE 2,556,600 1 WALLPAPER MACHINE Filed March 27, 1947 Patented June 12, 1951 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 8 Claims.

1 The present invention relates in general to a paper handling machine and deals more particularly with a machine for trimming and pasting wallpaper preparatory to the hanging thereof.

It is an object of the invention to provide a machine of this character which is small enough rollers or the like.

Another feature resides in the provision of improved apparatus for cutting the paper transversely of the web when the desired amount has been unrolled; and providing easily adjustable knives for dividing the web longitudinally into any desired number of strips for border, or strips of any desired width narrower than the full width of the roll. A particular feature resides in the construction and mounting arrangement of the cutters.

A further feature resides in the improved construction of the paste-applying and levelling apparatus.

Other objects and features will appear in the course of the following description of the invention.

In the accompanying drawings which form a part of the specification and are to be read in conjunction therewith and in which like reference numerals are employed to identify like parts of the various views,

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a wallpaper cutting and pasting machine embodying the invention,

Fig. 2 is an elevational view showing one end of the machine,

Fig. 3 is a cross sectional View taken along the line 3--3 of Fig. 1 in the direction of the arrows,

Fig. 4 is a cross sectional view taken along the line 4-4 of Fig. 1 in the direction of the arrows, and

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary perspective view of the machine, somewhat enlarged.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, my machine has a trough-like paste tank made up of a horizontal bottom It], a pair of longitudiroll of wallpaper 2i.

nal side walls II and I2 and ,a, pair of end walls i3 and It. All of the mechanism is mounted on the end walls, these. being constructed of relatively heavy material and having an irregular contour as shown in Fig. 2. The upper margin of wall I2 is rolled back to form a reinforcing bead l5 while the upper margin of wall H is bent over and welded or otherwise secured to a rigid strip [6 extending from one end wall to the other. The latter strip has turned-down ends ll which are secured to the ends of the tank by screws [8.

A pair of legs I9 are provided on the wall l2; when, for the convenience of the worker, the tank is positioned on a plank between two ladders, these legs extend downwardly on either side of the plank in order to eliminate the possibility of the machine slipping ofi thereof. In the event it is desired to place the machine on the floor or on a table, the legs may be pivoted upwardly about their respective mounting screws 20 until their lower ends are clear of the supporting surface.

Parallel and adjacent to the bead I5 is an elongated spool or reel adapted to receive a standard This spool comprises a pair of disk-like end plates 22 one of which is secured to a sleeve 23 extending through the center of the roll substantially to the opposite end thereof; the other end 'filate is secured to a rod 24 which is arranged to telescope into the sleeve. Trunnions 25 extending outwardly from the spool are seated in suitable dimples or bearing sockets 26 in the leaf springs 21, the springs being tensioned toward one another not only to support the spool but also to urge the end plates firmly against the ends of the roll 2| in order to maintain the wallpaper square and true. A wing nut 36 is provided for adjusting the tension of each leaf spring 21.

From the under side of roll 2| the wallpaper web extends forwardly between a pair of rollers 28 and 29 and then upwardly around the latter roller to a point where its free end 30 may be grasped easily by the paper hanger. Paste roller 28 is a large hollow cylinder open at both ends, and is covered with rubber or other suitable material having corrugations extending longitudinally or spirally of the cylinder; it has a central axle 3|,the opposite ends of which are supported by arms 32. The arms in turn ar pivoted at 33 to the end walls of the tank, and coil springs 34 connected to the free ends of the arms serve to draw roller 28 upwardly toward roller 29. The spring tension may be adjusted by hooking the upper end of the spring into different ones of the 3 notches 35 prOVided along the upper edges of the walls 13 and I4.

Roller 29 is carried by a pair of arms 3'! having suitable bearing holes for receiving the trunnions 38 which extend outwardl from opposite ends of the roller. The trunnions project clear through and slightly beyond the outer surface of the arms and a pair of leaf springs 39 riveted to the respective arms bear against the exposed tips of trunnions in order to maintain the roller properly centered. The arms themselves are pivoted at their upper ends to turn about their respective mounting screws 40. However, they cannot turn downwardly from the position in which they are shown because the trunnions 38 rest against the upper edge of the end walls of the tank; moreover the arms normally are prevented from swinging upwardly due to the presence of a pair of spring latching members 42 each of which has an inwardly turned tongue 43 which abuts against the upper edge of one arm near its free end.

Thus, even when tension is applied to the free end (30) of the wallpaper to draw it upwardly this force will not raise or otherwise change the position of the axis of roller 29 (though the roller will, of course, revolve about said axis). When, for reasons to be made clear later, it is desired to swing the roller 29 upwardly about pivots 40 the spring latching members 42 are forced out wardly from the end walls of the tank until tongues 43 are clear of the arms 3?. This releases the arms so that the roller may be raised. Upon such movement it will be noted that the free ends of arms 32 will move upwardly a short distance under the influence of spring 34, which lifts the drum 28 until its margin strikes the edge of strip I6; thus the strip serves as a stop, limiting the upward movement of the drum and permitting roller 29 to be lifted clear of the drum. When, after having been raised, the roller is pushed back down to the position illustrated it first depresses drum 28 slightly against the tension of spring 34, and then the arms 31 snap back underneath the tongues whereby they are again locked in place.

Near the opposite ends of roller 29 are a pair of rotatable cutter disks "E4, the sharpened edges of which bear against the roller in order to sever the marginal portions of the wallpaper strip from the useful center portion as the free end 30 is drawn vertically upward. Each cutter disk is mounted between a pair of arms 45 which project upwardly from a leaf spring 46; the leaf spring in turn is anchored between member I! and a vise-like clamping strip 41 adapted to be tightened down by bolts 48. The leaf spring not only maintains the associated cutter disk against roller 29 due to its tension but also permits of some torsion whereby the disk aligns itself automatically with the direction of movement of the paper somewhat after the fashion of a conventional swivel caster.

A pair of arcuate deflectors 50 positioned adjacent the respective cutter disks and secured to the end walls by screws guide the severed marginal strips of paper, i. e., the selvage 52, rearwardly as the remainder of the web is drawn upwardly.

Directly above the cutter disks and extendin from one end wall of the paste tank to the other is an elongated metallic strip or channel 53. U-shaped in transverse cross section, this strip is supported at its ends by inwardly turned lugs 54 on the walls of the tank. One or more knife carriers 55 are adapted to be detachably molm lfi on the strip, in depending relation thereto, by means of horizontal slots in the respective carriers which may be forced over the strip. The upper and lower halves of strip 53 normally are somewhat divergent and the slots in the knife carriers are of such width as to squeeze these halves slightly toward one another whereby the carriers are maintained firmly in position by the outward spring action of the strip. In order to facilitate locating the carriers as desired with respect to the transverse dimension of the wallpaper, the upper surface of strip 53 is marked oil in inches or other convenient units of measurement. It will be seen from Fig. 3 that each carriers knife is disposed directly in the upward path of the paper with its cutting edge inclined at an angle to the plane of the paper.

The U-shaped strip or channel 53 not only supports the knives 56 but also serves as a sheath for receiving the serrated transverse cutting blade 58. This blade is welded or otherwise rigidly aflixed to a bail 59, the two ends of which are pivoted to the walls of the paste tank at 33. A handle is secured in fixed relationship to the blade, for example, by rivets 6|.

Having described the construction of my machine it now will be convenient to explain the manner in which it is used. In order to mount a roll of Wallpaper on the spool as shown, the spool first is removed from the machine by spreading leaf springs 2! slightly apart; then the two halves of the spool are separated from one another by drawing rod 24 out of tube 23. The tube and rod are inserted into opposite ends of the wallpaper roll and advanced axially toward one another to reassemble the spool with the end plates 22 abutting opposite ends ofthe roll, and when this has been done the spool with the wallpaper mounted thereon is returned to its position between leaf springs 21 on the machine.

Next, the transverse cutting blade 58 is pivoted upwardly into its sheath 53. Spring latching members 42 are displaced outwardly from the sides of the tank to release arms 31 and roller 29 is swung upwardly. This permits the free end of the wallpaper strip to be threaded under roller 29 easily and thence upwardly around the roller between same and the cutting disks 44. Then the roller is pushed back down until its supporting arms 31 are again locked by the latching members 42 in the position shown. Finally, the

transverse cutting bar is returned to the position in which it is illustrated.

Assuming now that no knife carriers 55 are mounted on the strip or channel 53, it will be evident that when the free end 35 of the paper is drawn upwardly only the marginal portions of the strip will be cut off, these being deflected rearwardly by the curved deflectors 50 as explained hereinbefore. At the same timethe large paste roller 28 turns in the direction indicated by the arrow in Fig. 3 carrying paste upwardly from the tank and applying it to the reverse or undecorated side of the paper as it passes between rollers 28 and 29. The corrugated cover on roller 28 insures that there is sufficient traction between the paper and the paste roller to turn the latter, the corrugations also forming pockets which serve to carry the paste in adequate quantities to the paperf A rubber or leather squeegee 63 isprovi ded for leveling the paste and removing any excess. This squeegee is clamped in an elongated 'U- shaped frame 64 which extends from one end of the: tank to the other; the opposite ends of. the

clamping frame are supported by adjusting levers 65 disposed inside the end walls of the tank and r the squeegee.

It is important that roller 2Q be positioned close to the spool on which the wallpaper is wound, as indicated in the drawings, and that the axes of the roller and spool be absolutely parallel; it also is important that the tension of springs 2? be sufficient to maintain the ends of the wallpaper roll square, i. e., normal to the axis of the spool, and sufficient, as well, to exert a drag on the spool which keeps the paper taut as it is unrolled. When these conditions are satisfied roll 2| itself dominates the course and direction of the unrolling paper. In other Words, as the free end of the paper is drawn upwardly the portion of the web passing around roller 29 automatically seeks and quickly finds itsown alignment with the squared ends of the roll 2|, whereby after the first few inches of travel of the paper the disk cutters M consistently and accurately out 01f the same amount of the marginal portion. The wallpaper roll 2i may be shifted laterally with respect to the disk cutters by loosening one with nut 3.6 and tightening the other, thus to vary the width of the respective marginal portions cut off.

When it is desired to divide the paper longitudinally into strips, for example in order to fit a narrow wall space or to make a border strip, one or more kni fecarriers 5-5 are mounted at appropriate intervals on the strip 53 and these will slit the paper as it is drawn upwardly.

In any event when the desired length of pasted and trimmed wallpaper has been drawn from the machine the transverse cutter blade 58 is swung upwardly by handle Ell, whereby it forces the paper back against the sheath 53 and then severs the paper on entering the sheath. The serrated character of this blade makes itunnecessary for the blade to be dangerously sharp because the blade points first engage and pierce the paper at spaced-apart locations, the balance of the cutting edge thereafter passing through the paper at an angle which makes a clean out even though the edge is rather blunt.

From the foregoing it will be seen that this invention is one well adapted to attain all of the ends and objects hereinbefore set forth, together with other advantages which are obvious and which are inherent to the apparatus.

Inasmuch as many possible embodiments of the invention may be made without departing from the scope thereof it is to be understood that all matter herein set forth or shown in the accompanying drawings is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

It also will be understood that certain features and subcombinations are of utility and may be employed without reference to other features and subcombinations. This is contemplated by and is within the scope of the claims.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

ill

1. A wallpaper machine comprising a support, a spool mounted on said support and adapted to receive a roll of wallpaper, a roller mounted on said support adjacent the spool and parallel to the axis thereof, about which roller the paper is adapted to be drawn from the spool in order to change the course of the paper leaving the spool, an elongated sheath U-shaped in transverse cross section mounted on said support so the Web of the paper passes adjacent the sheath opening after it passes around said roller, said sheath being disposed crosswise of the web, a movable blade normally disposed on the opposite side of the wallpaper web from the sheath, means for advancing said blade through the paper into said sheath at will thereby to sever the paper along a line transverse to the length of the web, one or more knives for slitting the paper longitudinally of the web, and means for detachably mounting said knives on said sheath so they extend into the path of the paper web as it leaves said roller.

2. A machine as in claim 1 wherein said mounting means for each knife comprises a knife carrier having a slot adapted to be forced over said sheath.

3. A machine as in claim 1 wherein each knife comprises a stationary blade spaced apart from the roller with its cutting edge inclined with respect to the Web of the paper.

4. A machine as in claim 1 wherein said sheath has ruler-like scale markings thereon to facilitate the positioning of said knives laterally of the wallpaper web.

5. A wallpaper machine comprising a troughlike paste tank having vertical end walls, a spool adapted to receive a roll of wallpaper, said spool comprising a pair of end plates joined by telescoping stem members with trunnions extending outwardly from the end plates, a pair of leaf springs affixed to the opposite end walls of the paste tank and having sockets to receive said trun-nions thereby to support said spool and urge the end plates against the ends of the wallpaper roll, a roller adjacent the spool and parallel to the axis thereof, about which roller the paper is adapted to be drawn from the spool in order to change the course of the paper on leaving the spool, a paste drum in the tank engaging the paper as it passes around said roller to apply paste thereto, said paste drum being carried by a pair of arms pivoted to the end walls of the tank, each arm having a coiled tension spring connected at one end to the arm and connected at the other end to the tank thereby to draw the drum toward said roller, said roller being carried by a second pair of arms pivoted to the end Walls of the paste tank whereby said roller may be moved away from the paste drum in order to thread the wall paper therebetween, and latching members normally effective to lock said last arms in a predetermined position with respect to said paste tank.

6. A wallpaper machine comprising a troughlike paste tank having vertical end walls, a spool adapted to receive aroll of wallpaper; said spool comprising a pair of end plates joined by telescoping stem members with trunnions extending outwardly from the end plates, a pair of leaf springs afiixed to the opposite end walls of the paste tank and having sockets to receive said trunnions thereby to support said spool and urge the end plates against the ends of the wallpaper roll, a roller adjacent the spool and parallel to the axis thereof, about which roller the paper is adapted to be drawn from the spool in order to change the course of the paper on leaving the spool, a paste drum in the tank engaging the paper as it passes around said roller to apply paste thereto, said paste drum being carried by a pair of arms pivoted to the end walls of the tank, each arm having a coiled tension spring connected at one end to the arm and connected at the other end to the tank thereby to draw the drum toward said roller, said roller being carried by a second pair of arms pivoted to the end walls of the paste tank whereby said roller may be moved away from the paste drum in order to thread the wallpaper therebetween, latching members normally effective to lock said last arms in a predetermined position with respect to said paste tank, and stop means limiting the movement of said drum toward said roller when the latter is unlatched and moved away from said drum.

7. A machine as in claim 6 having at least one cutter bearing against said roller when said roller is in said predetermined position, thereby to slit the paper longitudinally as it passes around said roller.

8. A Wallpaper machine comprising a troughlike paste tank having vertical end walls, a spool adapted to receive a roll of wallpaper, said spool comprising a pair of end plates joined by telescoping stem members with trunnions extending outwardly from the end plates, a pair of leaf springs aflixed t0 the opposite end walls of the paste tank and having sockets to receive said trunnions thereby to support said spool and urge the end plates against the ends of the wallpaper roll, a roller supported by the end walls of the tank adjacent the spool and parallel to the axis thereof, about which roller the paper is adapted to be drawn from the spool in order to change the course of the paper on leaving the spool, a paste drum in the tank engaging the paper as it passes around said roller to apply paste thereto, an elongated sheath U-shaped in transverse cross section mounted on the paste tank so the web of the paper passes adjacent the sheath opening after it passes around said roller, said 8 sheath being disposed cross-wise of the web, a movable blade normally disposedon the opposite side of the wallpaper web from said sheath, means for advancing said blade through the paper into said sheath thereby to sever the paper along a line transverse to the length of the web, one or more knives for slitting the paper longitudinally of the web, and means for detachably mounting said knives on said sheath so they extend into the path of the paper web as it leaves said roller.

WILLIAM C. RENNE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 436,924 lvIcQueney Sept. 23, 1890 621,636 Davis et al Mar. 21, 1899 682,074 l-Ietherington Sept. 3, 1901 692,647 Field Feb. 4, 1902 723,375 Fales Mar. 24, 1903 758,999 Miller May 3, 1904 856,224 Clingman June 11, 1907 951,562 I-Iamelstrom Mar. 8, 1910 1,133,142 Hirsch Mar. 23, 1915 1,149,771 Hustad Aug. 10, 1915 1,154,301 Fogarty Sept. 21, 1915 1,213,728 Beach Jan. 23, 1917 1,260,885 Dunn Mar. 26, 1918 1,334,387 McGlaughlin Mar. 23, 1920 1,465,861 Oppman Aug. 21, 1923 1,575,868 Roles Mar. 9, 1926 1,602,807 Berger et al Oct. 12, 1926 1,966,708 Burgund July 17, 1934 2,014,765 Hoppe Sept. 17, 1935 2,241,007 Thomas May 6, 1941 2,260,185 McDeVitt Oct. 21, 1941 2,367,974 Stocker Jan. 23, 1945 2,373,644 Belch Apr. 17, 1945 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 5,242 Great Britain 1893 

